When the massive storm that knocked out power across the Pittsburgh area hit at the end of April, local comic book artist Dave Wachter’s home in Forest Hills joined the list. To meet his deadlines, he visited the Oakland Panera Bread and the main branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to draw his digital artwork on his iPad. Most urgently, he needed to draw the last issue of his hit comic book series, Uncanny Valley.
“I had my power strip with three batteries charging, plus my phone and my iPad there, and basically finished up the book from those locations,” Wachter tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “And then, I’d pick up my wife, and we’d come home to a dark house lit by weird lanterns and try to deal with that.”
A few weeks later, Wachter learned Uncanny Valley, his first original property in about a decade, penned by comic writer Tony Fleecs, nabbed a Best New Series nod from the prestigious Eisner Awards.
The Eisner Awards, named after pioneering cartoonist Will Eisner and touted as “the comic book industry’s highest honor,” nominated Uncanny Valley, a creator-owned series published by BOOM! Studios, alongside heavy hitters such as Absolute Batman, a beloved reboot that sold like hotcakes. Known best for his years-long run on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wachter has spent the last few years focusing on Marvel Comics projects such as Punisher and Iron First: Heart of the Dragon.
Fleecs, Wachter’s longtime friend who is based on the West Coast, created and developed the story for Uncanny Valley. It follows a 12-year-old boy with strange powers whose world merges with cartoons after meeting his grandfather, a short, gun-toting guy reminiscent of Yosemite Sam. He originally envisioned writing the series for two artists, one who specialized in realistic artwork and another in cartoony work, but that proved a hard sell for the publisher. He had Wachter in mind for the more realistic visuals, and Wachter joked that he’d then just be drawing “the boring parts” anyway. Eventually, Fleecs asked if he could draw the whole book, and Wachter agreed.
“I knew I could figure it out … I mostly draw realistic, but I know that I can draw cartoony stuff, especially since it became a matter of research, because I’m emulating styles,” Wachter says. “I’m not coming up with a cartoon style of my own, which can actually be very difficult. I’m emulating Hanna-Barbera and Disney and stuff like that.”
Rare for the mainstream comic book industry, Wachter does every aspect of the art himself rather than working with an inker and colorist. His work on the book looks distinct from his recent Marvel work, with softer colors and fewer high-octane, violent action scenes. Fleecs loved Wachter’s work on the series.
“I hope that I’ll be the guy that Dave wants to come back to, like, ‘What are we doing this time? What sort of different thing are we doing now?’” Fleecs tells City Paper. “I don’t care about Ninja Turtles or Godzilla; I like Dave for Dave, and I want to see him try new things and do different things. That’s the stuff that gets me charged up.”
Wachter described their working relationship as the best part of illustrating Uncanny Valley.
“To be able to work on something that I think is so good, and to work with somebody who I like and I admire their work,” Wachter says. “And so much of that is the combination of our talents and our personalities and how we work together.”
Fleecs has developed a strong fan base in the comics world for his writing on two Image Comics series with similar premises as Uncanny Valley. One, Stray Dogs, follows cute dogs that get wrapped up in a disturbing serial killer plot, and the other, Feral, reimagines the zombie apocalypse genre with cats. So, Uncanny Valley appeals easily to his fans. Many in Wachter’s existing fan base have an affinity for the large properties he works on, but he’s received a warm response from readers.
“I’ve had people tell me that this book means a lot to them, and they’re loving it and enjoying it and sharing it with their kids and stuff like that,” Wachter says. “That’s a thrill with something that’s a creator-owned book, and you get a response. Being that we’re the real authors of it. So it’s not me coming in and doing a few issues of something else. They see us as responsible for the creation of it.”
Ahead of the awards ceremony in San Diego on Fri., July 25, Fleecs and Wachter maintain a light, jokey attitude about their chances.
“We’re the big one,” Wachter says, eliciting laughter from Fleecs. “Everyone knows Batman is an underdog.”
“A lot of people have been saying we’re the one to beat, for sure,” Fleecs adds.
This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2025.
